When a message about repentance arouses widespread enthusiasm, watch out, revival is on the horizon. Wonderful service this Sunday. We're continuing our series on prayer, and we've been looking more specifically at possible obstacles to prayer, including refusal to repent and unforgiveness; and they loved it.
It is a beautiful day when a congregation begins to love the preaching of repentance. The Bible is clear on this point: if we hold sin in our hearts, God will not answer our prayers. This is the cry of David in Psalm 66, echoed by Isaiah when he assured God's people that God was not short-handed and could not save, but because of their sins, His face was hidden from them and their prayers went unanswered. Are we obligated to hold sin in our hearts? Certainly not. Repentance is a beautiful thing.
Recently, lying on my couch in communion, oh, pleasant combination with God, I had this thought: 'Repentance is definitely a beautiful thing.' Indeed, I had just repented. The Lord had drawn my attention to certain behaviors on my part that did not please Him. Upset, I asked for forgiveness profusely. Shortly after, restored, submerged in the presence of God, I was able to meditate on the sweetness of repentance and forgiveness granted.
It was Martin Luther who affirmed that the life of the Christian must be a life of repentance. Not lself-flagellation, but rather a readiness to put things in order whenever God shows us something wrong in our lives. It's about preventing anything from disturbing our relationships. Christ is, objectively, my greatest treasure, and what upsets Him can be unloaded without regret.
Furthermore, the Bible says bluntly that he who does not forgive will not be forgiven. Jesus stated this in Mark 11. So, when we come to pray, we are called to forgive those who have wronged us; and if we refuse to forgive, the heavenly Father will not forgive us either. It's scary. I want to be forgiven.
Another reason to forgive is that we have been forgiven for much. Yet, how often we behave like the servant who owed his master a lot of money; the master, in his mercy, canceled this large debt, and now the servant, having come across one of his companions who owed him a small sum, had him imprisoned while he paid his debt. The master, upon learning the story, inflicted a bitter punishment on him. Sin cost Jesus dearly; if He can forgive me, I too can forgive someone else.
Earl Denny tells a story of extraordinary forgiveness. Corrie Ten Boum had lost her entire family to the Nazis. She was eventually freed from the concentration camp where she had been interned, along with her sister, who died there. Corrie Ten Boum was preaching in Germany when a man came forward for prayer. She recognized him as a guard who had tortured her sister to death.
She felt hatred, anger, and resentment rising. The man approached her and told her about his past as a concentration camp guard, that he had tortured several people, that he had since converted and knew that God had forgiven him, but he wanted to ask forgiveness from his victims, and he asked Corrie Ten Boum to forgive him.
As she looked at him, she felt anger, resentment, and hatred overcome her; and she cried out to Jesus for help. She was able to respond to the man and grant him forgiveness; in doing so, she felt a weight lift from her. She was free.
In this amazing video (in English) she talks about how to love your enemies; she also tells (5mn20sec) about her encounter with this man.
God is quick to forgive and wipe the slate clean, He expects us to do the same and will grant us the grace to do so when we are willing. Thus, nothing will obscure our relationship with Him or hinder our prayers. Shalom.
